He hands me a key and waves me along, turning back to Brennan.
At the door, I blow them a parting kiss and Aaron laughs, pretending to catch it. Brennan sends me one in return, and just as his hand leaves his mouth, a slew of bubbles glug from the machine and ripple across the dance floor, spinning thickly around me where I’m clutching the handle of the closed door, eliciting shrieks of delight and alarm along the way.
My smile falters, my grip tightening. Was that intentional? Is he drunk? A full-body tremble courses over me as I open the door.
What am I going to tell Arla?
17SEX MAGIC
When I get to the office, Aaron isn’t there, and I start to worry. He never showed last night or this morning. I had my coffee alone, watching dog walkers saunter by the front windows of his bungalow. I send a text—Everything okay?—but don’t get a reply. So, when he sails into work an hour later and skates over to my desk, I practically double over with relief. He and Brennan were plenty cozy last night, but something in me has been buzzing with doubt ever since that impossible wave of bubbles coursed through the bar, leaving me unsettled. I don’t think Brennan would hurt anyone, but the truth is, I don’t know what he’s capable of. Any of them.
“Someone’s in a good mood,” I grumble when he nears, but the ridiculous smile on his face only grows.
“It’s our mutual friend,” he says with a wink. “He’s magical,” Aaron gushes, swooning as he leans a hip against my desk.
“W-what?” I stammer out. Surely Brennan hasn’t lost all prudence.
Aaron glows with post-sex dopamine. “The things he can do with his tongue… It’s positively mystical. Why didn’t you introduce us sooner?”
I will my heart rate to settle, realizing he’s only talking about Brennan’s skills in bed, which I would know nothing about. “Oh, umm… like he said, we’re still getting to know each other.”
Aaron leans in, whispering, “Well, we got to know each other very well last night.”
“I figured as much,” I say with a tight smile.
“Don’t be angry, pussycat.” His bottom lip juts out. “I didn’t mean to miss our coffee date this morning.”
“It’s fine,” I tell him, a little sharper than intended, the “pussycat” nickname getting to me. I’m already Arla’s “kitten.” What about me screamsbaby feline? “I was just worried about you.”
“Well, you should be,” he says. “I could barely walk in here this morning.”
I give him the side-eye.
“I’m not kidding, Jude. He’s next level when it comes to sex.Next. Level.”
“Okay, okay. I get it,” I tell him, flattening my hand and waving it to indicate he should pipe down. I glance around to make sure no one has overheard us.
But Aaron’s eyes bore into mine like they’re trying to speak. “I don’t think you do,” he tells me. A choked sort of laugh emits from his throat. “He does things I didn’t even know were possible,” he says with emphasis.
The way he says it sticks in me, turning my stomach. “Aaron, what do you mean?”
“I know,” he says to me in a furtive whisper. “I know all about it, Jude. Your little group…” He beams like a kid who’s just bought his first backstage pass to a concert.
Whatever he thinks he knows, it can’t bethat. Because Brennan is not that stupid, would never… But I can’t shake the dread stealing over me. “What do you know, Aaron?”
His eyes settle over me, flashing. “Sex magic.”
I sputter out a cough. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Not that light-a-candle Wiccan shit people talk about either. Or all that breathy tantra. It’s real, Jude.Realmagic. REAL.”
I take a slow breath in, let it out. Try to calm myself. Grabbing his elbow, I stand and tug him back toward the wall behind me,turning him away from the rest of the office. “Aaron, what are you talking about? What did Brennan tell you?”
His grin, already a mind-numbing glare of flashiest white, brightens further. “It’s not what he told me. Heshowedme.”
For a moment, I can’t believe what I’m hearing, can’t believe Arla was right, can’t believe I got my friend all mixed up in this. “What did he show you, Aaron?”
A sneaky expression takes over him. “We levitated, Jude. I didn’t imagine it either. I know I didn’t. We were humping like angels in midair, lofty currents skimming over every inch of skin like someone blowing your whole body. To be that weightless, free, held only by your lover’s embrace… It changed everything, made it all so muchmore, gave us this phenomenal reach. You wouldn’t believe the contortions that were possible. I’m telling you, I went to another world last night, Jude. I’m not making this up—it was ecstatsy!”
